Earlier this week, we stumbled across this Facebook ad from Waldorf Ford and Dodge, a car dealership in Maryland that’s using Facebook and YouTube to attract new customers. But they’re not just using these channels to boost their page views and get more attention; they’re actively trying to solve their customers’ problems, reduce likely obstacles to a car purchase, and create a friendly bond between the brand and the potential purchaser.

Here’s one of their videos, in which they try to demystify some of the acronyms and jargon you find in most car sales brochures:

On the surface, this video may seem simple, but Waldorf’s big-picture approach to inbound marketing, we bet, is really paying off.

If you were the CMO at Brand X, wouldn’t you love to see a steady stream of that exact sentiment being shared by your customers online?

Unfortunately, that’s probably not going to happen.

Not that people don’t say good things about brands and products online. Often, they do — and maybe they even say them about your brand — but they don’t usually say it like that. Instead, you’re more likely to see good (and bad) observations like this. And this. And this.

Getting customer feedback through social media networks can be a key component of your inbound marketing and customer relations strategy. And knowing what they’re saying about you — and how they’re saying it — is imperative for keeping up with the conversation.

But what do you wish your customers were saying about you? Here’s a tip for deconstructing your customer’s opinions and figuring out what they really want, so you can give it to them.

Are you convinced that your YouTube subscribers are waiting breathlessly for your next clip?

WAIT!

Whether you tweet for yourself, your company, or as part of a team-based branding strategy, here are 6 questions to help ensure your inbound marketing efforts are being underpinned by a sound social strategy.

In a recent column titled “How Brands Should Think About Facebook,” Advertising Age’s Jack Neff makes the case that Facebook is more useful as a brand loyalty tool than it is for attracting new customers. Depending on your brand’s goals and your audience’s Facebook habits, he may be right.

As he notes:

Research by DDB Worldwide and Opinionway Research finds 84% of a typical brand’s Facebook fans are existing customers.

And if that’s the case, then 84% of a brand’s Facebook time is going to be spent making happy customers happier, rather than delighting total strangers.

But what Neff’s article really got us thinking about was the difference between a wink and a kiss, and why Facebook is so good at helping brands score one kind of love but not always the other.

Last week, the world was on fire with amazing news. Earthquakes in Virginia!!! Steve Jobs retires!!! Hurricane Irene is coming!!! HURRICANE IRENE IS HERE!!!

And while the general public obsessed over those stories (or tried to ignore them so they could get some actual work done), a vast swath of social marketers were salivating. Why? Because they’ve been trained to look for angles on breaking news and pop culture stories that can help drag attention toward their own brands and products.

One of the biggest challenges companies face when they decide to produce original promotional content is… how?

Not in terms of process, because it’s easy to find the right personnel or hire the right agency to create media that drives traffic, interest and sales. But where’s the hook?

Actually, you might be sitting on it.

When I used to film the web sitcom Something to Be Desired, we would sometimes film segments in a radio station that was housed under the same roof as the TV studio where Mister Rogers Neighborhood was filmed. Every shoot, we’d walk right past the tree, the castle and the carousel from The Land of Make Believe. One day, it occurred to us that we were standing right next to something an entire generation would probably think of as magical, and we’d grown so used to it that we’d already tuned it out.

Most of us have lived with our own stories for so long, we sometimes forget what makes those stories interesting in the first place. Instead of tapping into our most valuable storytelling resource — our own experiences — people and brands often try to shift the focus away from themselves and onto something they’ve invented from scratch, which seems interesting mostly because it’s new to them.

And that can work. But so can telling your best old stories to new audiences who’ve never heard them before, and who can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

Here are some tips to help you better appreciate the content goldmine you keep trying to ignore: yourself.

The interview, on the CBC’s Connect with Mark Kelley, was spurred by the five year anniversary of the launch of Twitter. You can see the interview here, starting around the 42 minute mark. And while the questions Kelley asked were focused on the personal side of Twitter, there are lessons here for your business as well.

Let’s revisit the interview with our business hats on and see what Mark Kelley’s questions can teach us about the inbound marketing side of social media.

Last week, Google did something that made me question everything I thought I knew about social media.

It started with a conversation I had with a friend…

My Friend: I’m thinking about hiring a company that buys Facebook “likes” for brands. What’s your opinion on that?

Me: !?

I reminded him that the real value of a “like” depends entirely on who is doing the liking. Buying Facebook “likes” is an awful lot like buying a huge email list. Go ahead and spam the list, but you’ll be lucky to get a 1% conversion rate that way. On the other hand, if you build up your own list of opt-in, permission-based fans, you might get a conversion rate of 30% or more.

We don’t advise our clients to buy “likes.” It’s SO much better to earn them. The whole point of having a following on social media is to gain credibility and build up trust and likability. You do that by participating, by conversing. By being a human being. You don’t do that by artificially inflating “like” numbers. That leads your boss to question the ROI of social media.

Or to engage in black hat approaches.

Remember – twenty active, loyal, and dedicated customers are more useful than the names of 200 complete strangers. Quality over quantity.

And then, last week, I read a blog post about Google, written by Christopher Penn, Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at Blue Sky Factory, that made me wonder if it was time to rethink my entire approach to social media.

Many people can design beautiful web pages, but there are very few great web designers.

A great web designer must be able to create beautiful web pages. But what if they’re not consistent with the brand?

So… a great web designer must also understand brand design. But what if the pages look great and are “on brand,” but don’t drive any action?

So… a great web designer must also understand the desired actions for any given page. But how can the designer do that without knowing what would appeal to the site’s visitors?

So… a great web designer must also work out the motivations and desires of the site’s visitors. But how can the designer do that without developing strong user personas and performing market research?

So… a great web designer must also be able to perform market research and develop user personas. But even with all of that, how can the designer do a great job without knowing the strategic business goals of the website?

So… a great web designer must also have at least a basic grasp of business strategy. But how will the designer know if the design is a success without analytics?

So… a great web designer must also be able to request certain kinds of data, interpret that data, and then tweak the site based on web analytics. But what if the designer discovers that the designs aren’t converting as well as desired?

So… a great web designer must also understand conversion tactics, like landing pages, offers, lead nurturing, and A/B testing. But what if the site converts well but isn’t getting enough traffic?

So… a great web designer must also be able to implement traffic generation tactics, like search engine optimization, blogging, social media integration, and how to best design around content. But what if the designer knows how to do all of the above, but is unable to build any consensus with the client?

So… a great web designer must also be a great communicator and motivator. But what if the designer can get the team pumped, but is completely disorganized?

So… a great web designer must also have strong project management skills.

A great web designer is a lot more than just a designer of beautiful web pages. He or she is also a brand expert, psychologist, marketing strategist, researcher, business consultant, analyst, SEO, social media practitioner, content editor, consensus builder, motivator, and project manager.

Yes, we know that you want people to like your company, but you can’t make someone care about you. (You should have already learned that in junior high school, but it’s a lifelong lesson that’s worth repeating.)

So, what’s a brand to do? Here are five suggestions that should increase your Facebook fandom, boost your ego (and your sales) and help you feel better about yourself, your job, and your life in general.